Remains of Lady Elgin shipwreck trapped in limbo

Swimming through the murky depths of Lake Michigan, scuba divers came upon a ghostly shape looming in the greenish gloom.

An anchor stood upright, embedded in the sandy bottom, trailing a long chain that had caught on a boulder.

Beyond lay the remnants of a ship, its wooden ribs picked clean of their hull, like the carcass of a long-beached whale. Strewn along the lake floor were a broken china plate, a boiler and a rifle dating from before the Civil War.

This was the wreckage of the Lady Elgin, where some 350 men, women and children lost their lives on Sept. 8, 1860.

"It's an ethereal experience," diver David Blanchette said of seeing the site as part of a 1993 expedition by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, for which he is a spokesman. "It puts a lump in your throat."

One hundred and fifty years after the worst open-water disaster on Lake Michigan, and more than a decade after a court case decided who owns the wreckage, there is still no way most of the general public can see its remains.

The site lies scattered under 60 feet of water, 10 miles offshore from Highland Park. Some 200 artifacts brought up from the site -- from swords to a chandelier -- remain locked in storage.

It may be the most historically significant wreck in Lake Michigan, but its discoverer and owner, Harry Zych, says he can't find a museum willing to spend the money to preserve and exhibit the artifacts.

Now, the disclosure of gold and silver coins -- worth $300 at the time, and much more now -- found amid the wreckage only adds intrigue to an already chaotic tale of politics, slavery and tragedy.

A new chapter

The anniversary of the disaster has spawned a book, a play and public seminars on the subject.

Valerie van Heest, a shipwreck diver who led an archeological expedition documenting the site, has written a new account of the story, "Lost on the Lady Elgin," and will speak about it at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Evanston History Center.

In her book, she writes that the coins were discussed in a court fight over the wreck that raged through the 1990s but were not well-publicized previously.

"The artifacts have never been put on display," she said. "I'd love to see an exhibit."

Having worked on other maritime museum exhibits, van Heest estimated the cost of an exhibit at $50,000 to $100,000. But that would not include the cost of conserving the artifacts, which Zych said experts estimated at $10,000 for a single parasol.